Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-02-27

IA New York tenement house.
ssYou SEE said the little woman WHIT
took me into her confidence IN the matter
lit came round by accident like. In th'
/ first place, / used to tend the glove counter
round at IS big store on Sixth avenue
They paid me s. q week, and though deal
knows twas little enough, yet jim and m'
was saving up 10 get married, you Know,
and | laid BY SO after all my wedding
! things was brought. Jim, he Was a con-
ductor on the Third avenue ROAD, ana ne
had more'n a 500, too.
sSWeIl. ey'rythiug went right with US
till that strike came last winter. jim, ne
went. out of course, with the restoi em-he
wonldn't 'ay dream't of wOrkln' when the
leaders said nO-and he amt had anything
steady To do since. He's down on the
wharves handlin' freight now-had toeome
| IN scabbiu' il sooner n starye-but now that
strike's over there's no tellin' how long
thatn last.
Eve came here to live so'st not to pay
the rents they asked at the other place
our money was goin' fast enough, anyhow
"a almost the first thing began 10 thlnK
about was what awful prices Id Always
been pawn for things.
OH won know everybody in this house
WAS buyin', lust as I'd always bought,
every thing we ate by the half pound or
the quarter pound. When butter was 81
cents. I'd be a payin' II cents for a quarter
Dound. When lard was 10 cents, 1T 'ud cost
me 6 cents to buy a half pound. Potatoes
WAS about 10 cents u bushel, but I'd get
only two quarts ut a time an pay 10 cents
for 'em. Wen | had to have eggs, I'd u
two or three, as the case was, sometimes
only one, and they'd come D0ut double
rates. r
Poor folks all do it here n the city. L
hardly know one that don't. Ii you'll go
into any grocery store yourself and stand
around a while you'll see it's just as I've
been tellin' YOU. | don't know what it's
for, but | think it's partly that there ; SO
many Germans here that never bought but
for one day at a time at home, an partly
because we don't any Of US have much
money TO spare at q time. Wy, all The
coal come into this house by the pailiul or
the scuttle' an a ton come To bout n
seven tons ought to cost. ,.
We'll 5 | was telling you, l thought II
all over q long time, and by n by wheh
NV cousin Kate came to live in the rooms
inst over ns-her husband was sick an was
yorkin' OFF an on by spells-l proposed to
her that We should get all our groceries to-
cether an share up on payin' for 'em.
Kate she liked the plan an we got the
thing to goin right away. 1t helped some,
hut IL didn't make near the difference that
we'd hOped il would, for h two OF us To-
gether couldn't make out to pay for so much
at a time. We'd try our very best to save
over from one week TO another TO buy a lot
of sugar, though it didn't make SO
difference about that, or flour or potatoes
at once; and sometimes we managed 1t an
o''ner we couldn't.
I'VE was Just about ready to give 1t up
in despair when Kate hit upon a notion OF
askin' some of the rest of the families TO
ioip in. There was a pretty decent lot IN
the house-you don't often find as quiet a
place as this in these parts-and jumped
at the idea.
I'VE talked it over first with one, then
with another. There was three or four
families here where the men worked in fac
tories. an Others was laborers an some
worked round the wharveS. don't Know
but what they went into il quickern richer
folks might n done. cause, leastways, they
had precious little to lose.
The way we got it fixed finally, we
range TO have a meeting right here IN my
sittin' room, and choose one OF us women
treasurer. They choose me first, an then
| went to the grocer, the best one l knew
Ut anywhere round, an got him to promise
us boardin' house rates ii we paid up right
prompt all the time.
Now we've got fairly going, we have
cy'ry woman that wants any groceries put
down her things on paper and bring the
list 10 me. Once Il week, or sometimes
twice. I have the whole lot sent round, and
then eV'ry woman pays Tor her share be-
fore she carries of her things. | guess we
all of us save pretty near a third, IN
coal and all, on what We used to pay.
I'VE amt tried X 50 much on meat,
cause there's nobody had time 10 tend up
| to a thing that has got to be bought every
dny. But we're going to start IN on thai
in a little different way. Kate up stairs,
she's going to get all the orders ev'ry
morning an have the man c"me to the
door to take EN-. Then if we make
ANYTHING ont of it, we'll give her part OF
| what we save for the trouble.
Don't we quarrel over il? Well, no,
we amt. vet, but we do have troubles.
One is the folks in n place like this change
50 often. That don't bother now 50 much
rs it did at first though, for when anybody
comes with an idea of Savin' when she gets
broken into the plan she's pretty apt to
like il, an to settle down where she can
yet the benefit of it. Another thing Is We
| found it awfully hard on the start to keep
| the accounts right. There's where 1t came
i'm handy for me to 'av been in a store. |
WIS sort of rust ut first but | can make
| things so plain now that ev'ry woman in
this whole house can see at first look that
| [ amt cheatin' her." and the emphatic ac-
%cOuntant picked up the sheets OF brown
paper she had pasted together into a good
sized volume for her housekeeping eNparl-
mentS, which | sat down 10 study and to
wonder over. while thus tale of a tenement
house revolution went on.
"Buying things together amt quite all
we've done, though il all started in that.
Those women what their husbands work
in the factory don't have any cOOkin' to do
'cept at mOrnin' and night, aud they've
been fixing things to earn 4 little money
themselves. There's six of EN- that dubbed
together to get 4 woman that has to stay
home-she's down on the floor belOw-tO
wash and iron for 'em. The four that amt
got no children too little to leave has gone
into the factory themselves; and the other
two has taken i'm tailOrin' to do. Some o
those that goes ont is talking about hav-
ing their cookin' for EN- fore long. least
ways gettin' the dinner going n night.
If Kate makes the meat buying go |
don't know but what | shall turn the
groceries over to her-they ought to pay
for that, it takes time cnough-and try for
nv place back in the store again. II they
take all the old hands back on the piers
and Jim gets thrown out shall have to do
something for ALT | see"
/ turned the leaves of the account book.
lone barrel of -four, $3.50; Is pounds of
lard, $l.O5; s pound OF butter, $l.Si; 6
pounds of cheese. - cents" &c, &c,
naCe after page. This east side tenement